A Site Survey of Masonry Bond Strength

The paper reports a checking of the SAA Masonry Code, AS 3700 assumptions that ordinary masonry has a flexural tensile strength of at least 0.2 MPa and that, for Special Masonry, the strength may be as high as 1.0 MPa. The results of tests of on-site brickwork show that, in spite of inaccurate mortar batching and the use of mortar sands with high fines contents, the Code's requirements for ordinary masonry were always met and that the provisions for substantially higher tensile strengths in especially controlled masonry look reasonable.